Criminality
Eugenicists held nature far above nurture, and in studies of criminality, their conclusions were no different, thus criminality was attributed to a degenerate gene. The theory behind such an assessment was that those with such genes would gravitate towards places of poverty and crime, as opposed to have been shaped into a criminal by their environment. Conversely, the areas of crime and poverty were not a result of external economic factors nearly so much as they were indicative of a large concentration of individuals with the criminality gene.
Such ‘scientific findings’ were used to multiple ends,the main one being to sterilize inmates, so they could not conceive children that would also, like their parents, genetically fall into the practices of lawbreaking and the state of poverty. Also, it was utilized to oppose subsidies for the poor, as allowing the poor to die or be made sterile would, in the eyes of many ambitious eugenic economists, eliminate poverty entirely, due to it being a byproduct of poor pedigrees around the nation, rather than due to other factors.
The call to sterilize criminals saw far more support than those efforts to sterilize the impoverished, yet at many times, but were purported to be a cure to many societal ills ("Eugenics Archive").
Such ‘scientific findings’ were used to multiple ends,the main one being to sterilize inmates, so they could not conceive children that would also, like their parents, genetically fall into the practices of lawbreaking and the state of poverty. Also, it was utilized to oppose subsidies for the poor, as allowing the poor to die or be made sterile would, in the eyes of many ambitious eugenic economists, eliminate poverty entirely, due to it being a byproduct of poor pedigrees around the nation, rather than due to other factors.
The call to sterilize criminals saw far more support than those efforts to sterilize the impoverished, yet at many times, but were purported to be a cure to many societal ills ("Eugenics Archive").